Dammit Gruss I don't have time for another forever thread, But you said you agreed with me then restate the same position. I am not particularly a fan of single payer, but you are, really you are, arguing as an ideologue here.
It is not as simple as shifting the costs, as the behavior of patients differs. If they can afford it, choice a, most people will go to the doctor, and if they can't, choice b, most people won't. Some of the ones who won't will eventually develop more expensive problems because they did not. These very expensive problems will show up in the ER and if they are serious enough will be treated at taxpayer expense. But the key thing to grasp about this scenario is that these expenses under choice b are totally preventable by getting more people into situations under choice a. In addition productivity rises as more people are able to work. That's pretty hard to dispute, although you are trying. Where single payer has flaws generally initial underfunding is the root cause, and thus you get waiting lists for services in Ontario and individual outcomes suffer. But when viewed as a problem of large numbers, you really can't argue that it doesn't improve public health. On Mon, May 4, 2009 at 6:24 AM, Gruss Gott <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Dana wrote: >> The fact that Joe Schmo can't afford his premiums does not mean that >> he is any more expensive to insure than you or I. > > I totally agree. I am simply pointing out that the problem is not > *who pays* the problem is the total cost and that cost is out of > control. > > If you know anyone that owns a business, it's likely that their costs > have doubled since 2000. These cost increases are not due to who pays > the bill. > > Thus simply changing who pays the bill won't fix the problem, it'll > just mean the premiums of everyone will grow until they bankrupt us. > > Tossing that trend over the wall won't fix the trend. > > The President is looking to FIX THE PROBLEM, not to just shift it. > > IMO, the fix is a mix of consumer-directed healthcare and medicare. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:296698 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
